With freshman entrance to universities becoming increasingly competitive, is it easier to gain acceptance as a transfer student? What should students interested in transferring to another school be aware of?

For many students, starting at a smaller, community or two-year college and then transferring to a larger university is an efficient means to earn their bachelor’s degree. However, it’s important to understand some crucial facts before deciding to go the transfer route.

Why do students attend a community college first?
Students opt to transfer from community colleges for a variety of reasons. For some, funds are tight and attending a community college to complete general education requirements is much cheaper per unit than a traditional four-year university. Other students aren’t sure what they want to study, or they want to gain college experience and increase their GPAs to become more competitive candidates before applying. Some students also need the flexibility of community college courses to maintain work or other commitments while completing education requirements.

Is it really easier to gain acceptance as a transfer student?
You may have noticed that I didn’t include transferring from a community college as an easier way to gain acceptance to the school of your dreams; that’s because, for the most part, it isn’t. However, for some students, attending a community college first may open more doors to more university options. The truth is that it truly depends on your individual situation.

As an academic advisor at the University of California, San Diego, I work with a lot of transfer students, as they make up over twenty percent of our undergraduate population. The majority of transfer students we work with come from California’s community colleges; the University of California gives priority admission to qualified transfers from community colleges over students transferring from other four-year institutions. In the case of the California Community College system and the University of California, a high school student who attends a community college and completes an articulation agreement (see below) while meeting minimum GPA requirements may have a better chance of getting into a top UC school than if they had applied to that same school straight out of high school.